Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-03-31

have said we were enjoying our
selves immensely. Tho big skins
were spread on the floor Of our
ice cave, the carcasses cut up in handy
pieces, and when darkness fell upon the
ocean we lay down side by side without
having eaten or drank, and were soon
asleep. I had knocked about in all
sorts of crafts and had sailed in all
seas, and peril was no new thing to me.
When I lay down 1 had TO admit to
myself that the present situation had
never been equaled, and forced my
thoughts into other channels. Had 1
began figuring on our chances l should
have gone wild. lay next to Mr..
Wharton, and perhaps, as was falling
INTO a doze, I may have whispered
something to myself, for he laid his
hand on my shoulder, put his mouth
close to my ear. and softly said:
Nelson, whatever you think of the
situation, say nothing to any of the
rest. The gale is blowing up great
guns, and God only knows what may
happen TO us even before midnight
..I'm thinking the ship will take US
off tomorrow, SIR" answered.
IL hope so, hope so. Let's go to
sleep and not worry"
After that we all slept, but an hour
before daylight we were aroused by
such shock and crash as made us be-
lieve that the heavens and the earth
had come together. We sprang up
with shouts of alarm, no one remem-
boring for the moment just where we
were. Then there came more grind
ing and crunching and crushing, and
directly after that all was still except
the bowling of the gale, and we were
driving along rs quietly as before
"We've had collision with another
berg" explained the mate.' and L
think all danger has passed"
He advised us to return to our sleep,
but every man had had enough, and
every eye was wide open when the first
signs of daylight appeared. The fall
of snow was not SO heavy, although we
could not have seen a second berg as
large as ours half a mile away, but the
wind was blowing living gale and
held steady from the old quarter. The
mercury had dropped to zero or lower.
but the great skins under us had kept
us comfortable through the night. We
sat and looked out on the storm and
troubled sea for a long time before any
man moved or made a suggestion.
Then, when day had fully dawned, the
mate said:
"Well, men, nothing is ever as bad
as it looks at first sight. The storm
can't last the day out, and you may be
sure the ship will not lower for another
whale until she overhauls us. We've
got bread and meat, and we'll try for a
fire"
He was the first man out of the cave.
expect we'd all been preparing our
selves to find the boat smashed to splin-
tiers or gone entirely, for when Mr..
Wharton called that she was all right,
great load was lifted from our minds.
To get n fire we must have wood, and
to get wood, as was soon realized, we
must sacrifice some portion of the boat.
The door to the locker in the stern
sheets was unhinged. and couple of
the men fell to and made shavings and
kindlings Of it. Then some of the en-
trails and fat were cut up into small
pieces and we started fire at the door
of our cave. As soon as the kindlings
were alight we put on pieces of fat, and
there was cheer all around as the
fire began to blaze up and throw out
its warmth. Then we fell to, each man
for himself, and cut off as much meat as
we wanted, and held it over the blaze
on splinters. Despite the poor roasting
and the absence of salt we made a
hearty meal, and the fire was soon
after smothered out. In clear weather
it would have sent out smoke to be
seen twenty miles from the crows nest
of a whaler, but with that thick Amos
phere shutting us in it was simply burn
ing up precious fuel for nothing.
Although it had been showing for so
have made drifts ten feet high on land,
very little of it had remained on the
berg, owing, of course, to the high
winds blowing over it. The mate
gave us leave to scatter for a look
around, though warning us against
taking any chances, and presently 1
found myself in his company rs we
walked part way along the length of
the shelf and came to a spot upon
which we could climb with a
promise of view to windward. Up
we went. making our feet sure ut every
step. and the bowling of the gale all
the time seeming nearer, and by and
by We looked out between two pin
nacles and had Il square look into the
face of the storm. We were not yet at
the top of the berg, by any means. but
had struck a sort of rift in the center of
it and about forty feet above the sea. A
moro forbidding sight never looked
upon. The sea was in q perfect tur-